Islamabad: Federal Oil Minister Musadik Malik informed the National Assembly on Friday that the country currently has a surplus of LNG and tenders have been floated for additional LNG cargoes to meet gas requirements in January.
Responding to calls to stop domestic gas production and buy LNG at higher prices, while domestic industry is deprived of gas for power generation, the government is buying LNG under long-term contracts, he said.
The Minister explained that the total amount of gas available in the SNGPL system last January was 1850 mmcfd, and the planned gas for next month is 1750 mmcfd even after utilizing the local gas resources. The shortfall is expected to be met by LNG imports in January.
He said the government had submitted a gas supply plan to Qatar in October, calling for additional LNG shipments for January, the month of peak consumption. But Qatar rejected the request. As a result, a tender was announced for the purchase of additional cargo to meet domestic demand.
He indicated that when the original LNG agreement was signed, 600 mmcfd of LNG would be used to generate electricity.
He also said that Qatar has been asked to transfer five LNG cargoes from this year to next year. “We will buy less cargo, but there are benefits from LNG,” he said.
He also stated that negotiations with other companies to transfer five LNG cargoes to next year.
Addressing the issue of captive power plants, the minister said that out of 2,500 industrial plants in Karawang, only 18 produced $1,000,000 worth of electricity. Unit 13 On the other hand, another unit buys electricity from K-Electric for $1,000,000. 60 per unit puts it at a significant competitive disadvantage.
At the time, he said he supported the rationalization of captive power, and now the rates have been fixed. The value of power grabs has risen, creating a level playing field for others.
The minister said there is no reason to close the captive power plant as the tariff is the same.
He also said that the interim government had agreed with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to close the captive power plants. However, the current government, in collaboration with the HPG and other multilateral organizations, says that it is not in the country’s economic interest to end captivity. Negotiations on this matter are still ongoing,” he said.
